Poetry by Sam Barbee
Midnight flurries wandered across the yard,
dusted us with white blemishes—pristine,
but too scant for loveliness. Blanched
brushstrokes like veined marble.
These speckles will not endure as bushes
and boughs flex to sunrise—snow drifted
against trunks will collapse. Humble mounds
await my child’s discouraging snowman.
I pour another coffee and feign a shiver.
Nature’s canticle begins as slight icicles
concede to warmth—seep like Dali’s clocks.
Spiny crowns of sweetgum balls dimple
puny dust—peep between Pollock’s harsh scars.
We celebrate grace through lively strands of light…
Our estate of swatches awaits…primed palette
to swirl color when burgeoning sun rouses flourish.
Sam Barbee newest collection is titled Apertures of Voluptuous Force (2022, Redhawk Publishing). He has three previous poetry collections, including That Rain We Needed (2016, Press 53), a nominee for the Roanoke-Chowan Award as one of North Carolina’s best poetry collections of 2016. He is a two-time Pushcart nominee.
